The present nonprovisional application claims priority under 35 USC 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-335629 filed on Oct. 31, 2001 the entire contents thereof is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a personal watercraft in which an upper front portion of a body is covered with a front hood and left and right side covers are disposed at left and right lower edges of the front hood, respectively, wherein air is introduced into the body through gaps between the left and right side covers and the front hood.
2. Description of Background Art
Personal jet propulsion watercrafts include a jet pump mounted to a rear portion of a body wherein the jet pump is driven by an engine. In these jet propulsion watercrafts, water is sucked by driving the jet pump and is jetted rearwardly, to thereby propel the watercraft.
In the personal watercrafts of this type, since the engine is disposed in a body, air to be supplied to the engine must be introduced in the body. Such a personal watercraft has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 11-278387 entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus for Preventing Permeation of Water in Internal Combustion Engine for Watercraft.xe2x80x9d The configuration of this personal watercraft will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 7 of the drawings which corresponds to FIG. 2 of Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 11-278387. It is to be noted that in FIG. 7 parts are denoted by new reference numerals.
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the above-described related art personal watercraft. The personal watercraft 100, is configured as follows. A handlebar 102 is disposed on a front portion 101a of a body 101 and a luggage box 103 is disposed in front of the handlebar 102. An upper end opening 103a of the luggage box 103 is covered with a cover (front hood) 104. A hinge (not shown) that allows a swinging motion of the front hood 104 in the vertical direction is provided at a front end portion 104a of the front hood 104. A gap (not shown) is formed between the front hood 104 and the body 101. An intake duct 105 in communication with the gap is provided behind the luggage box 103.
According to the personal watercraft 100, air flowing into the gap between the front hood 104 and the body 101 is led in an inlet of the intake duct 105 as shown by an arrow xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d and is then introduced from an outlet of the intake duct 105 in the body 101 as shown by an arrow xe2x80x9cb,xe2x80x9d to be thus supplied to an engine (not shown).
However, the personal watercraft, in which the gap for introducing air in the body 101 is formed between the front hood 104 and the body 101, has a problem that is caused when sea water or other water is splashed on the front hood 104 and the body 101 during propulsion of the personal watercraft 100. To be more specific, when sea water or other water is splashed on the front hood 104 and the body 101, there may occur an inconvenience in that the splashed water flows into the gap, and permeates in the body 101 through the intake duct 105.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a personal watercraft for allowing an introduction of air into a body through a gap formed between the body and a front hood and prohibiting permeation of sea water or other water into the body through the gap.
To solve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a personal watercraft in which a handlebar is disposed on the center line in the width direction of the body, a front hood for covering an upper front portion of the body is disposed in front of the handlebar and left and right side covers are disposed at left and right lower edges of the front hood, respectively. Air is introduced in the body through gaps between the side covers and the front hood. The personal watercraft includes a labyrinth structure for allowing the introduction of air into the body and prohibiting a permeation of water in the body. The labyrinth structure is provided in each of the gaps between the front hood and the side covers.
Since the labyrinth structure is provided in each of the gaps formed between the front hood and the side covers, it is possible to prohibit a permeation of water into the body through the gaps while allowing an introduction of air into the body through the gaps.
Accordingly, even if sea water or other water is splashed on the front hood and the body during propulsion of the personal watercraft, it is possible to prevent a permeation of the splashed water into the body through the gaps.
According to the present invention, the labyrinth structure is configured such that a plurality of shield plates are provided at an upper end of each of the side covers in such a manner so as to be tilted at a rising gradient in the direction from the front side to the rear side of the body.
To form the labyrinth structure, the plurality of shield plates are provided at an upper end of each of the side covers in such a manner so as to be tilted at a rising gradient in the direction from the front side to the rear side of the body. Accordingly, the labyrinth structure can be simply formed only by disposing the plurality of shield plates.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.